The chronicles of life with Audrey and Benjamin

Month: February 2012

The weather has been gorgeous and icky off and on recently. Example: yesterday it was 65 and this morning it snowed! Anyway, last Wednesday was lovely so we spent the afternoon at the farm…the Kids’ Farm at the National Zoo to be exact. Hey, we live right outside D.C. — farms are hard to come by without a long(ish) drive!

Audrey really liked the cows. After this photo was taken, she started trying to climb into their pen.

We met up with Audrey’s friend Helen, who checked out the donkeys before promptly falling asleep. (Helen napped several hours that morning and afternoon, according to her mom. Audrey, on the other hand, only napped 40 minutes all day!)

The petting zoo includes a giant squishy pizza designed to teach kids where their food comes from.

Audrey and I had a good round of peek-a-boo around the enormous olive. It also made for an excellent crawling tunnel!

She celebrated her monthly milestone with blueberry pancakes, assisted walking around the house, and — most exciting of all — fun in our new bicycle trailer. Not actually outside on this cool, blustery day, but rather inside sans wheels. It became her personal fort/play house (though she let Fuzzy Bear and Nimbus enter it too). We were joking about going out on a date and letting Nimbus babysit her because it was clear Audrey wasn’t leaving the trailer on her own. With buckles to play with, windows for peek-a-boo, rocking games with daddy, and the option to pull herself to standing, why would she? Let’s just hope she likes it as much when she’s strapped down in it and wearing her new helmet!

In addition to playing in her new fort, Audrey’s busy signing “more” (very daintily, I might add); pointing at everything and everyone; saying hello and waving to people, doors, dolls, etc.; and selecting books from her shelf, among many other new skills and fun activities on any given day.

She also had a fantastic visit last weekend with her Spain grandparents, cousin Lily, uncle Steve, and aunt Roxanne (as did we). Photos to be posted soon!

Every night before bed, Kenji and I read Goodnight, Moon to Audrey. As with her other books, she really pays attention to it now — studying the pictures, turning the pages, making little reactive sounds. She loves to touch the red balloon on the colorful spreads and usually skips by the black-and-white pages quickly.

Except for the tiny mouse, her absolute favorite.

Inevitably, Audrey pauses on this page, touches the mouse illustration, flips forward, flips back, and then finally moves on with the story.

It is absolutely charming and adorable, and one of the small moments of her babyhood that I hope to never forget.

For several months now, Audrey’s had a “lovey.” It’s a tiny pink blanket, silky on one side and soft on the other, that she always sleeps with. She plays with the blanket as she drifts off — draping it over her head, holding it up in the air, and chewing on it. When we walk into her room to get her up after a nap or in the morning, she’s usually standing in her crib waving it around as if she’s surrendering to a battle. I shudder to think of what we’d endure if the blanket went missing.

As of this week, Audrey has a new (and surprising) lovey: a plastic set of teething keys we gave her for Christmas (that she wasn’t particularly interested in at the time, I might add). We’re not sure why she is suddenly so attached to them, but it’s evident.

This morning she held the keys while daddy got ready for work.

She had them with her as she ate lunch. (Notice the pointing with her other hand — a new skill!)

I finally got around to uploading the photos from Audrey’s birthday party, so now I can share the best ones!

The morning of her party, we picked up a few balloons from the party store.

Needless to say, Audrey was entranced with them. (In fact, we still have some of the balloons in a box in our living room that she visits daily. Her “Happy First Birthday” balloon is looking pretty wilted but is tied onto her walker as a motivational tool.)

The birthday girl was (thankfully!) in a great mood during (most of) her party.

She was lucky to be joined by friends and cousins. (It was adorable to see them playing together in the den. And surprisingly peaceful. No tantrums!).

Audrey even humored us by wearing her party hat (briefly)!

Some of the partygoers were very helpful with opening presents.

By the time we brought out Audrey’s cake, she was completely exhausted. But not too tired to give the frosting a dainty little taste. (The entire cake is now in our freezer. Maybe we’ll pull it out for her second birthday?)

We got a bigger cake for everyone else to enjoy.

It was a really great day. Even though she won’t remember the celebration, we’ll never forget it.